Cheers

The California Assembly passed legislation May 29 that would require faith-motivated crisis pregnancy centers to provide comprehensive information about reproductive health care options, including abortion, The Huffington Post reported. The bill, known as the Reproductive Fact Act, would require pregnancy centers to post notices saying that reproductive health services, including abortion, are available to pregnant women in the state. Pregnancy centers also would have to disclose whether they lack a medical license.

More News to Cheer This Week:

The publisher Electronic Arts has announced it will be introducing female footballers into its FIFA video game series, beginning with the forthcoming FIFA 16 edition, The Guardian reported May 28. The game features 12 international all-female teams, 11 of whom will appear at next month’s World Cup finals, including hosts Canada as well as England, Brazil, Germany and Spain.

French President François Hollande interred two female heroes of the World War II resistance in the Panthéon, the resting place of the nation’s great, The Guardian reported May 26. The two women are Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, who survived capture and deportation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has blocked an Arkansas law that bans abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, NPR reported May 27. The case was filed by two doctors on their own and on their patients’ behalf.

The Chicago Bears fired defensive end Ray McDonald early this week after his arrest on domestic violence and child endangerment charges in Santa Clara, Calif., CNN reported May 25.

Jeers

The United Kingdom risks widening gender inequality because of austerity policies that disproportionately affect women, a coalition of charities has warned, The Guardian reported May 28. Cuts to social security, the public sector and legal aid will only worsen women’s position in British society, the charities say, while proposals for a five-year lock on tax rises will benefit men over women. They argue that these factors in combination mean that women will bear the brunt of measures to pay off the deficit.

More News to Jeer This Week:

The Texas Senate voted May 25 on new restrictions on the legal bypass process that abused and neglected minors use to obtain abortions without parental consent, Dallas News reported. The bill would limit where a minor can apply for bypass, increase the time a judge has to rule and require anyone seeking an abortion to show proof of age and identity. The House is expected to sign off and send the bill to Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s likely to sign it. Meanwhile in the state of Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker said he will sign a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and no exception will be made in cases of rape or incest, The Daily Beast reported.

The referendum in Ireland that legalized same-sex marriage last week was a “defeat for humanity,” a top Vatican official said in remarks published May 26, The New York Times reported. “I was very saddened by this result,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, according to the Vatican Radio website. “I don’t think we can speak only about a defeat for Christian principles, but a defeat for humanity.”

Western women in the Islamic State are playing a crucial role in disseminating propaganda and are not simply flocking to the region to become a “jihadi bride,” The Washington Post reported, citing a British report. Published May 28 by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London, the report found that women are drawn to the Islamic State for a number of factors, including a sense of isolation, a feeling that the international Muslim community is under threat and a promise of sisterhood, which was especially important for female teens, the report said.

Children are now being seen as potential threats after an “alarming spike” in suicide bombings by girls and women being used by Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria, the U.N. children’s agency said May 26. The number of reported suicide attacks has jumped to 27 in the first five months of this year compared with 26 for all of last year, the Associated Press reported.

Noted:

Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders wrote in an essay in 1972 that women fantasize about being raped by multiple men, The Blaze reported May 28. “A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy. A woman on her knees, a woman tied up, a woman abused,” the Vermont senator wrote in the now-defunct Vermont Freeman. “A woman enjoys intercourse with her man–as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously.” Sanders was 30 years old at the time of publication.

For the fourth consecutive year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has been named the most powerful woman in technology on the Forbes’ Power Women list, placing eighth on the list overall. This year, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (No. 9 overall) took the No. 2 spot in tech from IBM CEO Virginia “Ginni” Rometty (No. 13), who had held the spot for the past three years. Rometty is this year’s third most powerful woman in tech, followed by in quick succession by HP CEO Meg Whitman (No. 14), Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer (No. 22) and newly promoted Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz (No. 24).

India’s women’s minister says that Sweden has a worse rape problem than her home country, RT reported May 25. Maneka Gandhi claimed that the incidence of rape in India was among the lowest in the world.

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All four parties represented in Turkish parliament, except the ruling Justice and Development Party, have increased the number of their female deputies, Hurriyet Daily News reported June 8. The parliamentary elections have led to the highest number of female deputies in Turkey’s history of democracy.

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